Prune Packers lose CCL title game, 6-1

The Healdsburg Prune Packers took their season as far as it could go, but they wound up taking a rare loss in the California Collegiate League championship game Sunday.

The Prune Packers fell to the Santa Barbara Foresters 6-1 in the third and decisive game of the CCL State Championship Series at Sparky Anderson Field on the campus of Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks.

The Packers got an early boost with John Lagattuta hitting a solo home run in the second inning for his fourth home run in five games to give the Packers an early one-run lead.

The Foresters took the lead off Packers starting pitcher Trey Gartlett in the third with a Christian Franklin three-run home run. They would add two more in the fourth while chasing Gartlett from the game on back-to-back base hits before Packer reliever Spencer Hynes gave up a two-run double.

Packers hitters struggled to get into a rhythm all afternoon, recording just two hits after the first three innings. Healdsburg never mounted a real threat to come back the way they did after dropping the opener of the series Saturday, rebounding for a 9-5 win in the second game.

Healdsburg finishes its winningest season since the team was restarted in 2012, at 38-8.